A Review of Emergent Masculinities: Gendered Power and Social Change in the Biafran Atlantic Age. By Ndubueze L. Mbah. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2019. 307 p. $ 33.20.
For a long period of time, women played significant roles in many pre-colonial African societies, serving in various capacities as religious, political, and economic leaders. The exact roles and status of these women, however, differ contrastively from one society to another based on factors such as religion, culture, and social organization. Though this unpopular fact about African history receives little or no attention from scholars, few studies offer some insights into the history and transformation of the powers of female leaders in Africa (Weir, 2000; Ogbomo, 2005; Weir, 2006; Achebe, 2011; Akyeampong & Fofack, 2014). Along this intersection, Mba\u27s Emergent Masculinities is no doubt a significant contribution, especially to the pre-colonial and colonial history of the Igbo at the Bight of Biafra (1750-1920), focusing mainly on how certain Western influences such as the Trans-Atlantic Slavery, legitimate trade, and colonialism shaped the peoples\u27 socio-political and economic institutions
